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stacr99's profile

Tuesday, December 8th, 2020 3:14 AM

SimpliCam Through Window - day great, night nothing

I installed the SimpliSafe for my mom.  So far it works as it should and gives her a sense of safety.

We use the key fob as a medical alert, she wears it on a lanyard.
She's never far from help.
And the panic buttons are in the bathrooms,  a few inches off the floor,  'just in case'
Definitely a great way to keep the home & mom safe.

My only concern is with the SimpliCam.
The way the house is set up,  the doorbell wouldn't give you a great view of walkway & driveway.
The camera has the best flexibility.

That said,  I put it in an upstairs bedroom to view the walkway and driveway.
During the day, the viewing is perfect.
At night, all you see is the glare of the window, nothing outside.
I understand it should be installed outdoors with the sleeve, but it's not able to be installed unless we hire someone to wire it above the garage.
I do have a friend who has hers by the front door inside,  aiming out.

I was wondering if anyone else uses theirs in a window facing outside,  and if it works at night.

Community Admin

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5.7K Messages

4 years ago

Hi stacr99,

The way that our SimpliCam works is that the Night Mode uses infrared - a certain kind of light that is outside of human vision. When the camera is active at night, you might even see the red LED lit up. It's light from that little LED that illuminates the scene, so even though the room would appear dark to us humans, the camera can still see objects in the room.

The problem with infrared is that it would have trouble passing through glass. That's why you see so much glare with your camera pointed out that window.

So yes, unfortunately the only solution here would be to use the Outdoor Kit, which you can find on our online catalog. The Kit does allow wall mounting just with adhesive - and there's an 'outdoor' variety of 3M's Command Strips that can help. So if you're comfortable with it, you might be able to do that installation on your own.

We are also developing a dedicated outdoor camera. We don't have any further info about it right now, but we do know that installing it would be similar in this case - someone would still need to mount it above the garage where you want it.

(edited)

5 Messages

4 years ago

Thank you for the reply Johnny.

The infrared makes sense, unfortunately.  
We'll need to look at what's involved with the outdoor installation, more importantly, getting the power cord to plug somewhere....

The dedicated outdoor camera would be good, perhaps if it's wireless, the power cord is what could make it difficult.

Thank you.

1.3K Messages

4 years ago

If there is a yard or porch light you could put in a LED bulb so power consumption is minimal. Then, leave the light on and turn off night mode on the camera. Note however, motion detection does not work reliably through the window/through glass.

50 Messages

4 years ago

Agree w whoaru99

Turn off the night vision on camera. You will not have the reflection on the glass now.
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